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FOR decades, professional-development prophets have preached the same simple gospel: Perception is projection.

In other words, if you want to improve your lot, then you need to change how you think. Force yourself to have positive thoughts and you will become happier. Visualise your desired self and you will enjoy boundless contentment. Think like a billionaire and you will emerge on the Forbes list of richest people in … well, wherever you're drowning in the syrup of your success.

The theory is elegantly simple; the practice so often tortuously flawed. Or so posits Prof Richard Wiseman.

Uniquely for a writer of this genre, Wiseman started his working life as a magician – therefore he's well qualified to be skeptical. His previous books have included The Luck Factor and 59 Seconds. And both possess the uncanny intuition and novelty approach that characterises Rip It Up.

Indeed, his latest book is so titled because Wiseman urges readers to tear up the book's pages as they read them: "The book is all about people changing their behaviour," he says. "To emphasise this key message I am inviting readers to do something that they probably have never done. Each time, readers will be changing their behaviour and so altering how they think and feel."

Visualisation is the big one in both the "lift-your-career" and "self-improvement games". Countless books encourage readers to relax and imagine their ideal selves – to see themselves in the leather seat in the Big Potato's office, or sipping a passion-fruit margarita as they feel the warm sand between their toes on some Hawaiian beach. But lo! – all the research suggests this approach does not deliver. Sorry to disappoint you. Actually, by pointing this out, Wiseman has perturbed your reviewer too.

In any event, why should this be so? Maybe those who fantasise about the enviable life are ill-equipped for setbacks, or become reluctant to put in the effort required to achieve their goal. Either way, the message is clear. Dream on; dream over.

Wiseman instead re-presents a concept first put forward over a century ago by psychologist William James. The author also backs up James' theory with some contemporary experiments.

The idea is that we have confused the horse with the cart – instead of investing time and money in self-help books which tell us how to change the very way we think, it's far easier to change the way we act in simple and subtle ways. In essence: faking it till you make it. Want to feel happier? Force yourself to smile and you will actually feel better. Want to be more confident? Stand in a confident pose and you will exude that aura of self-assuredness.

Back to that story Wiseman refers to, and elaborates on.

Working at Harvard University in the late 19th century, William James, brother of novelist Henry James, was seen as something of an oddball, often walking around campus sporting eccentric attire, and describing his theories using amusing prose ("as long as one poor cockroach feels the pangs of unrequited love, this world is not a moral world"). But he was no ineffectual nutter. First published in 1890, James' two-volume tome The Principles of Psychology was a huge hit in its day.

James hypothesised that the relationship between emotion and behaviour was a two-way street, and that behaviour can cause emotion. According to James, smiling can make you feel happy and frowning can make you feel sad. Or, to use James' favourite way of putting it: "You do not run from a bear because you are afraid of it, but rather become afraid of the bear because you run from it."

By acting as if you are a certain type of person, you become that person – the "As If" principle.

In time, James' revolutionary concept was forgotten and was replaced by lame and generally ineffective alternatives.

Now Wiseman has resurrected it. Take, for example, willpower. Motivated people tense their muscles as they get ready to leap into action. But really, can you boost your willpower by simply tensing your muscles? Studies led by Iris Hung from the National University of Singapore had volunteers visit a local eatery and asked them to try to avoid temptation and not buy sugary snacks. Some of the volunteers were asked to make their hand into a fist or contract their biceps, and thus act as if they were more motivated. Remarkably, this exercise made people far more likely to buy healthy food.

The same applies to confidence. Most books on increasing confidence encourage readers to focus on instances in their life when they have performed well or ask them to visualise themselves being more assertive. In contrast, the As If principle suggests that it would be much more effective to simply ask people to change their behaviour.

Singapore-based Mark Laudi, previously an anchorman for CNBC Asia Pacific and now a much sought-after speaker at regional seminars and conferences, concurs with Rip It Up's central thesis.

"The technique of imagining yourself more confident worked wonders for me in television. I was a stock-watcher and anchor at CNBC for seven years, and as is usually the case in live television, not everything always went to plan. In fact, things rarely went to plan.

"There were many moments of stress: a late breaking story, an interview guest who didn't arrive on time, or running out of time before the commercial break. The trick why viewers never would have spotted these moments is because I pretended to be confident at the most confidence-sapping times.

The author may have once been a magician, but it's hard to be skeptical about such a well-researched and provocative work.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Sabtu, 17 Ogos 2013

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

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